Almond-Orange Tuiles
This week, I must admit, has been humbling. During the past few days I’ve found myself on-the-hunt for my sense of humor and good will. This is not a week when I’ve felt the love from either our Dorie or Mother Nature.
Today the French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice is Almond-Orange Tuiles (pronounced tweel), a paper-thin cookie and perennial favorite in France. Dorie describes tuiles perfectly, “lacy, fragile, light, curved and naturally elegant.”
Heavy sigh.
Wednesday evening I mixed together the tuiles batter, consisting of sugar, flour, Bob’s Red Mill Almond Meal/Flour, orange juice and butter, for an overnight sleepover in the fridge. So far, so perfect. Thursday morning I woke up with a can-do attitude, threw on my bathrobe and charged into the kitchen to bake these treasured gems.
I noticed, however, I already had a text from Melissa, my daughter who lives in California. “I am sorry about the Aspen weather, Mom. Not to be bossy, but maybe you should stay inside today.”
I fired up my Mac and clicked to our weather link. Throughout the night the snow accumulation in Aspen had jumped to more than 14”. Not too alarming. We need the snow. The temperature? Currently registering at minus-17 degrees Fahrenheit. (For my international readers, that’s -27.222 degrees Celsius.) Baby, it’s cold outside.
Amazed but undeterred I soldiered on, precisely following Dorie’s instructions, suggestions and tips. The result? This is a cookie that fights an amateur baker like me every step of the way, from the initial hand-rolled ball to the moment it curves over the rolling pin.
I ate my tuiles with my morning coffee and enjoyed every crumb. I came. I saw. I didn’t conquer. Tuiles-la-la.
STILL LIFE: Almond-Orange Tuiles at -17 degrees and 14 inches of snow.
While I may not have excelled at cookie baking this week, I did shine in another department. Although I choose to call The Gant my home, it is really a destination hotel and resort with no covered parking. Therefore when the weather is fierce, my vehicle is brutalized. If cars could talk, mine would be filing for divorce.
Determined to make nice, I bundled up, grabbed a shovel, window scraper and spent more than an hour cleaning it. I don’t mind admitting I was quite “I-did-it–myself-proud” of the result.
These are frigid and snowy times throughout most of North America. To all my readers, not to be bossy, please take care and be safe for the next few days. Mother Nature is quite unforgiving right now.
French Fridays with Dorie, is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s latest cookbook “Around My French Table”. If you would like to see how my colleagues weathered this week’s recipe choice, go to our FFWD link.
Yours’ PERFECTION!
Well for someone who “struggled” you would never know. There’s a #trayofshame on *some* people’s blogs today LOL! Question: where are your almonds? did you use almond meal? Because if so, my guess was right – looks great (I didn’t like the chunky pieces of almond in mine – and I was silly and chopped them by hand, not sure what I was thinking). In any case they look PERFECT to enjoy inside with a coffee surrounded by all that snow! Enjoy your weekend Mary!
Yes, Mardi, thanks to you and your suggestions after you had made yours, I used Bob’s Red Mill’s Almond Meal/Flour. Bob is my new best friend. xox
Yours look perfect. Maybe the almond meal wasn’t what went wrong with mine. That’s where I laid the blame for the mess I found myself with. Your pics of the snow blow my mind! Between VA, TX, and now Italy, I can’t handle snow anymore. We’re going to Germany in two weeks, and I’m kind of panicky about the cold. Perhaps the Italian mindset of “drafts will kill you, and every illness you ever had in your life was caused because you weren’t wearing a scarf around your neck” is getting to me.
Your tuiles do not not show your struggle Mary. They look pretty perfect! Kudos to you for rescuing your car. We have about 3 inches of snow and we are at an absolute stand still here. I am going to try canning cranberry chutney to pass the time today.
it took Bernie and me 4 man/woman hours to shovel our Basalt driveway. but we are delighted in the snow. To your point…”veni, vidi, vici” (or veniamo, vidiamo, viciamo in our case)….
would love to taste those cookies.
Greetings from the other side of the Rockies…nice and chilly here in Denver, too. I DO think you conquered these…they look darn good to me!
Mary, your tuiles look absolutely perfect both on and off the elegant cake stand They are so evenly golden brown, lacy, curled, everything Dorie said they should be. You should be proud of them! The snow looks beautiful but I’m glad it’s there and I’m here 🙂 I hope your car forgives you. Stay warm this weekend. I think Melissa’s advice to stay in (with some hot chocolate and more cookies) is good.
I love snow, but I hate cleaning it off of my car. But right now the canoe my husband has been building and has yet to complete is occupying all three spots in our garage. Space needs to be made. I guess you can think of it as a good work out to burn off those tasty Tuiles. I agree the struggle is not evident, nicely done.
WOW, Mary!! You really got whacked with that storm. 14 inches…that’s a lot of snow! We’re expecting some ice/snow tonight! An excuse to stay in and bake tomorrow! I think your cookies came out lovely! And I love the photo with them on that very pretty plate in the snow…perfect! Stay warm and be safe ❤
Your tuiles are fabulous! Brrrrr, I can’t stand the cold, so I won’t be moving to Aspen any time soon.
Yes, Gaye, you’re a smart woman. But, can I move to Australia?
Mary I think you’re being a little hard on yourself – your tuiles look great. I’m going to attempt them this weekend. Wish me luck!
So glad to have you back on board, Maggie. As Betsy said (did you know that she and I are giving Laurie a hand with administering this Blog now?), we have missed your sassy posts. Take a twirl at baking the tuiles and report back in. xoxox
Wow. That is a ton of snow. Tasty looking cookies, though!
Mary, you wouldn’t be Mary with out a sassy dose of bossy. Its part of why we love you 🙂
I knew I was in trouble when the word “elegant” came up – that is one adjective that will never apply to me (and I am sure there are many).
I hope you survived the snow – excellent job cleaning the car. I wish more drivers were as fastidious with their snow removal. There is nothing quite like having the sheet of snow come flying off the car in front of you while driving 60 MPH. (Can’t you talk them into letting you park in one of the maintenance garages 🙂 )
Yes, I am commenting a week late. Tis the season 🙂 I can’t believe that you are not thrilled with your results. Seriously. I think they look just fab and would have been nibbling up all the little bits on the counter as well. Esp since with all the snow removal for your “baby with four wheels” you clearly deserved some treats. It is sleeting as I type this, after it snowed for hours. Some winter indeed. Thank god for online shopping.
I finally caught up with this one and mine weren’t half as nice as yours. As for the weather, you’re a hardier soul than I am (and most Vancouverites). The few centimetres of snow we get each year always threaten to shut down the city. Even our buses can’t cope.